Anne Finch (1661-1720)
Countess of Winchelsea, poetess, and English courtesan. She deplores the position of women in literature and within the court. She seeks psychological and spiritual equality between genders. She refers to other poets of the time, such as Aphra Behn and Katherine Phillips.
« Alas! a woman that attempts the pen, / Such an intruder on the rights of men,
Such a presumptuous Creature, is esteem’d, / The fault, can by no virtue be redeem’d. »